Category Advisor

Merton Council; Merton; On-site; GBP 54,000 - 58,000; Full time

Job summary

Merton Council is evolving its procurement function and seeks Category Advisors to drive strategic procurements for the People and Place categories. You will lead on core procurement activities, ensuring value for money through effective Category Management and new legislation implementation.

Two vacancies exist in People and Place; you will work with Commercial Services to extend the team's influence and deliver robust, flexible procurement services across the organisation.

Qualifications

• Experience in strategic procurement and category management.
• Ability to scrutinise spend and drive VFM across the lifecycle.
• Strong relationship management and stakeholder engagement.

Responsibilities

• Lead responsibility for specific procurement category areas (People or Place).
• Deploy compliant procurement processes and promote social value.
• Collaborate across the Council to deliver high quality procurement solutions.

Skills

Category management

Procurement strategy

Value for money

Relationship management

Commercial awareness

Job description

Grade/Salary: ME15 - £54,267 - £58,461 per annum

Procurement at Merton is evolving and to meet challenging targets, LBM requires skilled, commercially motivated Procurement professionals to help achieve significant savings. This role is pivotal in driving forward and challenging the Council’s approach to Category Management and its ‘Make or Buy’ agenda. The role is also integral in assisting delivery of LBM’s Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), departmental Target Operating Models (TOMs) and its ambition to be London’s Best Council. An ability to scrutinise and deliver value for money at all stages of the Procurement cycle is fundamental to the success of this role. Sound and productive relationship management skills are vital, as well as a strong level of technical knowledge.

Category Advisors are required to utilise their commercial expertise to work across the Council to ensure the delivery of a high quality approach to procurement. This will include having lead responsibility across the organisation for a specific aspect of a strategic procurement approach (e.g. the implementation of new procurement legislation, or delivering Social Value through procurement). In addition, post holders have a key role in expanding Commercial Services’ effectiveness and influence and ensuring an approach from the team that reaches out into the organisation to deliver a flexible and robust service

The Commercial Services team are split across two Category areas: 'People', and 'Place'. We currently have two vacancies available, and are recruiting for a Category Advisor for both the People and the Place categories